Showing posts with label Bat Yam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bat Yam. Show all posts

Friday, April 21, 2017

ISRAEL TODAY VIDEO: Experience Bat Yam - Dov Eilon

ISRAEL TODAY VIDEO: Experience Bat Yam

Thursday, April 20, 2017 |  Dov Eilon
South of Tel Aviv and Jaffa is the town of Bat Yam. The city has existed since 1926, when it was founded as Bayit Ve Gan (house and garden), but had to be evacuated in 1929 by the British after being attacked by Arabs from Jaffa.
In 1930, it was re-populated and in 1937 it gained city status with a new name - Bat Yam.
In the 1950s, Bat Yam grew rapidly due to the large number of immigrants flooding into the city.
Today, Bat Yam is known for its beautiful sandy beaches and its newly-renovated seaside promenade.
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Tuesday, March 14, 2017

‘Strange’ prayer shawl with ‘Yeshua’ stirs panic in Israeli synagogue - Kehila News Israel Rachel Scapa


‘Strange’ prayer shawl with ‘Yeshua’ stirs panic in Israeli synagogue

Prayer shawl used at a bar mitzvah ceremony in Bat Yam with the writing "Blessed are you o Lord our God, who has fulfilled all the Torah in Yeshua the Messiah and covered us all in his righteousness" (Photo: WhatsApp group)
Everyone at a bar mitzvah ceremony in a Bat Yam synagogue was singing siman tov u’mazal tov (a good time and good luck), until the rabbi noticed something “strange” about the tallit (prayer shawl) of the bar mitzvah boy. The inscription in Hebrew caused panic.
Blessed are You O Lord our God, who has fulfilled all the Torah in Yeshua the Messiah and covered us all in his righteousness,” it read.
I received the image through the WhatsApp group of the secular Israeli radio station where I have a weekly program in Hebrew, about Brazil. The person who sent it, an Orthodox Jew himself, attended the event. His message to the group, along with the picture, read: “Oy vey!”
What I found interesting were the many and varied comments among broadcasters, some secular, some religious, as well as those in the “scoops” Hebrew website rotter.net.
Comments ranged from “Oh My!” to “Yuck” to curious and genuine questioning. There were even some who wrote: “What’s is the big deal? After all, Yeshua was a Jew.” One of the broadcasters noted that it was “Yeshua,” not Yeshu (a rabbinic term and a curse for the name Jesus). Surely everyone wondered where the boy’s father bought the “impure” tallit.
“It is likely that it was purchased in a store owned by Messianic Jews,” wrote someone on rotter.net.
But this tiny story, published as an unimportant piece of news, included two images, the headline, “You must really check when purchasing a tallit,” and the caption, “A synagogue in Bat Yam.” And yet, it sparked a deeper debate. Those commenting in the scoops’ website, discussed the issue of Messianic Judaism, as well as the question, “Who is a Christian after all?”
“Dilbert” wrote in the forum: “Messianic Jews define themselves as Jews in every aspect, as Jews who believe in Yeshu as the Messiah. They never converted to Christianity, not in a church, not before the [Israeli] Interior Ministry. Just as the Chabad Chassidim are Jews who believe that Menachem Mendel Schneerson is the messiah. Incidentally, the Chabad Chasidim tend to weave ‘Long live our rebbe, our king, King Messiah’ on their sacred objects.”
Another Israeli Jew asked rhetorically, “Why is it so hard to say ‘Christian’? Even the first Christian was originally a Jew … (probably).”
One of the authors was accused of protecting the mission, and of being a fan of Christianity just because he warned against the hatred of becoming transparent in that particular forum: “The bitter hatred here against Yeshu and his disciples is irrational.”
What is clear is that the name Yeshua and his title Messiah is known among the people of Israel, even if they still insist on calling him “Yeshu.” But what is even more clear is that if we won’t share more about the Messiah, objects may do so, such as stones, prayer shawls and more.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Remain Jewish and believe in Jesus

'The point is to remain Jewish and believe in Jesus'

Wednesday, May 29, 2013 |  Israel Today Staff  
Israel Today recently wrote about a confrontation between Messianic Jewish Israelis and an Orthodox anti-missionary group in the coastal town of Bat Yam.
The same regional newspaper that first reported on that ongoing saga recently published a follow-up including "reader responses," some of which were very interesting.
One readers asked how Messianic Jewish sharing their faith is "any different from religious Jewish missions?" The reader was referring to the regular roadside witnessing and handing out of pamphlets by various Orthodox Jewish sects. He or she went on to conclude that it is no one's business "if I feel like converting to Christianity."
Another respondent tried to clear up that last point by noting that "Messianic Jews do not attempt to convert people. The whole point of Messianic Judaism is to remain Jewish and believe in Jesus."
The upcoming issue of Israel Today Magazine will explore the sensitive topic of some Jews coming to faith in Jesus, only to leave the community after feeling it was not Jewish enough.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Messianic Believers in Israel

Jewish anti-missionaries take on Messianic believers

Thursday, May 23, 2013 |  Israel Today Staff  
The ultra-Orthodox organization Yad L'Achim has long been a thorn in the side of Israel's Messianic Jewish community. Sometimes more than a thorn - Jack Teitel, the Jewish terrorist who almost killed Messianic youth Ami Ortiz, is believed to have strong ties to the group.
Now Yad L'Achim is targeting a blossoming Messianic community in the coastal city of Bat Yam. The local edition of the Hebrew daily Yediot Ahronot reported earlier this month that Yad L'Achim had received many complaints from residents upset about receiving "missionary material."
According to the article, local Messianic believers had visited homes in the area to share their faith. Yad L'Achim backers quoted in the piece also took offense at the reported recent founding of a new Messianic congregation, which they tried to paint as a "cult-ish" and "secretive" enterprise.
"We have a problem dealing with this issue, because the meetings take place in a private residential home in one of the apartment buildings so that naturally the activity there is very hidden and secretive," said one rabbi.
Oded Raban, a local Messianic Jew, refuted such nonsense, telling the paper that “there is nothing inappropriate in the [Messianic community's] activities ... [there is] no truth in the claims that we behave in an underhand manner. And if it comes across that way, the only reason is that we face such extreme antagonism, that it doesn’t leave us with many options.”
Raban reiterated what many other Messianic Israelis have stressed before:
"We have tens of thousands of believers in this country, and we are all citizens of this state. We are loyal to it, serve in the army, give to it, but our worldview is slightly different from other Jews’, and for that reason, other Jews see us as an anomaly. We, as our Jewish brothers, believe in God and see Him as the center of everything in this world."